One of the things that Novell got when it acquired commercial Linux distributor SUSE in November 2003 was a content versioning system called AutoBuild, that SUSE used to create its own distribution of Linux, including all of the thousands of applications that go into a distro. When Novell took its SUSE Linux development effort to an open source, community effort, one of the things it promised to do was improve and extend AutoBuild for that project. Last week at LinuxWorld, Novell went one step better.

The AutoBuild system is now known variously as the Open Build Framework and the openSUSE Build Service. According to Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, director of marketing for Linux and open source products at Novell, rather than just being restricted to the openSUSE project, the open build framework and related tools will be thrown wide open to the larger software development community. "Each Linux distro is a little bit different, and often, the projects behind these distributions have to hire specialists to integrate their packages," explained Mancusi-Ungaro. "We are making an open build system to help them, and it is our intent that this system support Debian, Fedora, and other major distros."

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In a separate announcement at LinuxWorld, Novell said that it had worked out a deal with database maker Oracle to deliver an integrated stack of SUSE Linux operating system and Oracle 10g database software aimed at customers who want to get started with grid clustering of their databases. Experts from Novell and Oracle are working with server partners Hewlett-Packard and Egenera to accelerate the deployment of such clusters. Basically, this offering rolls the best practices from existing customer engagements deploying grids on SUSE Linux into a fast-track service for new customers.